After Mr. Dalton Smith, a 14-year employee at Kilgore College and the school’s facilities director, blew the whistle, alleging that asbestos violations had occurred on campus, federal investigators began questioning school officials, resulting in the revelation that unlicensed workers had been used to perform abatement projects. The projects were “very small,” according to Kilgore College spokesman, Mr. Chris Craddock, and thus did not require licensed workers.
However, in Mr. Smith’s opinion, the project was not “very small.” He claimed that thousands of people had already been exposed to asbestos on campus buildings, such as the Randolph C. Watson Library, Rangerette gym, Stark Hall, the Quads dormitories, and Dodson Auditorium. Asbestos exposure can result in numerous health problems, including some fatal illnesses, such as mesothelioma.
In his allegation, Mr. Smith also said that his supervisor ordered him to cover up the presence of the harmful toxin.
College President Dr. Bill Holda addressed the situation by stating that school officials had no knowledge of a federal investigation. “Despite not being informed of the investigation, nor being provided the name or contact information for any purported officer, nor the case number, we have tried to reach out to the Dallas office of the EPA and FBI, and the Texas Department of State Health Services, to state our willingness to cooperate with any authorized investigation,” Dr. Holda said.
Dr. Holda went further to dismiss claims of unlicensed abatement, even though Mr. Craddock admitted that such abatement had occurred, albeit in “very small,” legal projects. Dr. Holda issued a statement in which he clarified that “no one has provided hard evidence that any inappropriate abatement or disposal of asbestos has occurred.”
Mr. Craddock also pointed out that Kilgore College has spent “millions upon millions of dollars on asbestos abatements and treatments,” to which Mr. Smith replied that all the funds previously dedicated to safe, lawful asbestos removal did not matter if small projects were done improperly.
“My people didn’t have the right gear, and we didn’t dispose of [asbestos] in a licensed facility, and we didn’t notify them it was asbestos for them to protect the people,” Mr. Smith said, adding that none of the workers used to perform the small abatement projects had any training whatsoever. “That’s all against the law.”
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